Cortical area · one in each half of the brain
Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
Also called DLPFC, Rostral middle frontal gyrus, Brodmann areas 9 and 46
Your brain's mental whiteboard: holding, juggling and using information in the moment.
The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, often called the DLPFC, sits on the upper side of the front of the brain. It is the star player for working memory, the ability to hold information in mind and work with it. It also helps you plan, switch between tasks, reason through problems and keep your attention on what matters.
Where it is
On the outer side of the front of the brain, roughly behind the upper corner of your forehead, in the middle of three horizontal ridges.
What it does
Working memory
It keeps information alive in your mind for a few seconds, like remembering directions while you walk.
Planning and organizing
It works out the order of steps for a task, like cooking a meal so everything is ready at once.
Switching tasks
When the rules change, it helps you drop the old approach and try a new one.
Focusing attention
It nudges the rest of the brain to pay attention to what matters for your goal and to ignore distractions.
Self-control
It helps you hold back impulses so you can stick with your goals.
Think of it as a mental whiteboard and project manager in one: it jots down what you need right now and keeps everyone working toward the goal.
Works with
- Superior parietal lobuleTogether they form a front-to-back control network that steers attention and holds information in mind.
- Caudate nucleusA loop through the caudate helps it update what is held in mind and choose the next step.
- Mediodorsal nucleus of the thalamusThis part of the thalamus keeps up a steady two-way conversation with it, helping sustain its activity.
- Caudal anterior cingulate cortexThe cingulate flags conflicts and errors, and this area then steps up control to fix them.
- DopamineDopamine tunes how well its cells hold information: both too little and too much make working memory worse.
When it goes wrong
Magnetic therapy for depression
Repeated magnetic pulses aimed at the left DLPFC from outside the head, called TMS, are an approved treatment for depression that has not improved with medicines.
Trouble planning
Damage, often from injury or stroke, can make it hard to plan, organize or switch strategies. People may keep repeating an approach that no longer works.
Schizophrenia
In schizophrenia, this area often shows reduced activity, both at rest and during demanding thinking tasks, which may contribute to difficulties with concentration and planning.
For learning only, not medical advice. If you have a health concern, talk to a doctor.
Surprising facts
- In monkey experiments, cells here keep firing during a short delay while the animal holds a location in mind, then stop once the answer is given. This was strong evidence of working memory at work inside single brain cells.
- Working memory is small: most people can juggle only around four chunks of information at once, which is one reason we split phone numbers into groups.
Where the name comes from
"Dorsal" comes from the Latin "dorsum", meaning back, and here means toward the top. "Lateral" comes from "latus", meaning side. So it is the upper-side part of the prefrontal cortex. In brain atlases it matches the front, or "rostral", part of the middle frontal gyrus, from the Latin "rostrum", meaning beak.
Quick quiz
3 questions. Your answers are saved and come back in your daily review.
Which of these is a job of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex?
Show the answer
Working memory. It keeps information alive in your mind for a few seconds, like remembering directions while you walk.
Working memory. It keeps information alive in your mind for a few seconds, like remembering directions while you walk.
The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is part of which larger structure?
Show the answer
Prefrontal cortex. It belongs to the prefrontal cortex.
Prefrontal cortex. It belongs to the prefrontal cortex.
Which part fits this description? "Like a mental whiteboard and project manager in one: it jots down what you need right now and keeps everyone working toward the goal."
Show the answer
Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. It is the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Your brain's mental whiteboard: holding, juggling and using information in the moment.
Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. It is the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Your brain's mental whiteboard: holding, juggling and using information in the moment.
These parts now come back in your daily review, just before you would forget them.
Practice it and its neighbors in 3DSources
- 19.6 How Do We Use Executive Functions to Make Decisions and Achieve Goals?, OpenStax, Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience
- "Planning Neurons" in the Monkey Frontal Cortex, Neuroscience, 2nd edition (Purves et al.), NCBI Bookshelf
- Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf
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